When we were young
by benefit of the doubt
Summary: A planned series of one-shots about the Curtis brothers' childhoods, and what our favourite Greasers were like when they were small!Rating may be changed later.


**Chapter 1: Dinner time issues**

**Disclaimer: As much as I love it, I never have and never will own the Outsiders. I'm just using the wonderful characters of S.E Hinton and writing purely for entertainment.**

**A/N: well hello there! I doubt anyone is reading this, but if you are-please give my fic a go! It's my first ever fic but I'm looking to improve, so please remember to review! This fic is set prebook, and I've planned it to be a series of one-shots from the Curtis' childhoods. Enjoy **

"Dear God, for the food we are about to eat, please help us be truly thankful and help us to think of those less fortunate than ourselves. Amen" Mrs Curtis couldn't be blamed for thinking amen was code for "Let's go" as she watched her boys dig into their meal heartily. She shared a quiet laugh as she glanced at her husband who had notice the boys' pace too.

"Wow boys, I know my potatoes are second to none but they're not going to disappear off your plates!" He chuckled good naturedly, which earned him an amused smile from his oldest son, Darry.

"_Your _potatoes? Since when did peelin' 'um mean you cooked 'em too, dad?" he joked whilst handing his younger brother the gravy, though the 11 year old was less than amused himself.

"Why does Darry always get stuff first?" he questioned. Mr and Mrs Curtis exchanged a worried glance. Gentle rivalry between the boys was commonplace, but they rarely had a real cross word to say about each other. They were fiercely loyal (often to Mrs Curtis' dismay) and grumblings between them were usually kept out of their parents' knowledge.

"What's bitin' you? The gravy was at my end of the table, Soda, so that's why I got it first!" Darry retorted, not fancying a full blown strop from his younger brother. It had to be said, however, that Soda wasn't a badly natured child. Ponyboy and Darry both had their stubbornness which could result in many a standoff, but Soda was usually the most placid of the three. That wasn't to say that he was calm and complacent; the middle Curtis brother was wild and reckless, and his "bravery" (as he liked to call it) had earned numerous worried phone calls to the Curtis parents and multiple Hospital trips.

"Darry, watch your tone," Mrs Curtis gently chastised, wanting to get to the bottom of Soda's issue. She rapidly sensed that this problem went far deeper than whose hands had clasped the gravy boat first. "Soda, honey, what's the matter?"

Soda shuffled awkwardly in his seat, trying not to meet his family's expectant stares.

**SODA'S POV**

I don't know how to say what I want to say. Glory, I didn't even _mean _for it to come out like that! How could I explain it to them? None of them know what it's like to be second to someone like Darry. Well, maybe Pony but he's just as brainy as Darry and will be just as good at sports when he grows up a bit. But me? I'm sick of coming second to Darry all the time! He's controlling enough over me and Ponyboy anyway, and he always gets to do everything first.

It's like the other day; I wanted to go to the lot with Steve to play football and goof around a bit. You know, to see if we could jump Mrs Errison's fence again. Mrs Errison is this super old woman who lives just across the street from the lot and is constantly in a grump, screaming and squawking at me and Steve to keep the noise down, even when we're not being _that _loud. So Steve dared me one day to jump her fence; it wasn't that hard seen as I'm quite flexible and the fence is kinda low, 'cept Mrs Errison nearly caught me on my way out, and me and Steve had to high tail it outta there. The funny feeling of excitement from doing something I knew I wasn't supposed to (Darry said it was called adrenadin or somethin' like that) filled by belly and gave me such as rush. Steve had felt it too, I could tell, so that was our new game. Every time it's just us two we try and jump the fence with crazier and more daring stunts.

And that had been all that I wanted to do when I asked Mom if me and Steve could go to the lot. But, before I could even finish my sentence, Darry runs in through the door, wanting to talk to Mom and interrupts me mid sentence. He asked if he could quickly go to Paul's cos they needed to practice or summin. Darry's always playing and practising football, and his friend Paul is just as keen on it as Dar. Mom agreed straight away cos she could see Darry was in a hurry, but then that meant she refused to let me go to the lot cos she was going to work and Pony couldn't stay by himself! She didn't understand why I couldn't bring Pony with me, and told me I had to stop leaving him outta stuff so sent me to play with him instead. Don't get me wrong, I love playing with Pony, it's just I was so angry with Darry. He's always interrupting me and bossing me and Pone around, it's like just getting stuff first isn't enough for him, like new jeans and footballs and later curfews and later bedtimes, he just HAS to ruin stuff for me too! So, by dinner a week later, I'd had enough.

"Nothin'...it's just...well..." I started but I didn't really know how to carry on. Pony's the one who's good with words, not me.

"Spit it out Soda!" Darry said, and that's all it took for me to just sorta...explode.

"Like that! You're so bossy, Dar! I know you're the oldest but you always get to do all the good stuff first, like going to the lot and then you're not even thankful when you get to do it! And... and you come home and start raggin' on me and Pony!" I hadn't meant to ramble so much, it just came out real quickly. Everyone at the table looked quiet and stunned, Darry more than everyone else. Dad was the first to speak.

"Soda, buddy, why didn't you tell us you were feeling like this? We could of all sat down and talked about it," he said, but I could see that he was giving Mom worried and knowing looks.

I just shrugged. I didn't really have nothin' else to say, I'd kinda just let it all spill out. But I definitely wasn't ready for the look on Darry's face. He just looked really...sad.

**DARRY'S POV**

Soda's words hit me like a slap in the face. I guess I never really realised what a bad big brother I've been. I mean, it's not like I ignore Soda or Pony, and not many other 14 year olds I know spend so much time with their little brothers, but it sounded like I'd been doing a pretty lousy job at it.

I looked at Soda, whose cheeks were flushed from his recent outburst. He held his head down and looked defeated, like he had nothing else to say. I then shifted my eyes to Pony who was sitting in a stunned sorta silence at the novelty of Soda having a real problem with me. I knew I had to sort this out, and fast. I didn't want to lose the close bond I had between me and my brothers, and realised I needed to talk to Soda.

"Soda, buddy, you wanna talk?" I asked gently and he nodded his head slowly. "Mom, can we pleased be excused?" Mom nodded, seemingly happy that we were hopefully sorting things out.

"Sure. Pony and I will make a start on the dishes and you can finish them up, okay?"

We both quickly nodded our heads and I motioned for Soda to follow me out onto the back porch. It was quite a mild night cos it was mid-spring, and I took in a big deep breath as I plopped down on the step, trying to think of what to say. Soda sat down too, kinda hesitantly and started absent-mindedly running his fingers along the edge of the step. I wanted to warn him he was gonna give himself a splinter, but I thought better of it.

"Sodapop, look, I'm real sorry if I've been making you feel lousy lately," I started, and Soda just looked at me with his big blue eyes. I always thought it was just Ponyboy with his innocent orbs, but this was yet another similarity they both shared. "When it comes to stuff like curfews and bedtimes and stuff, well...I am older than you Sodapop, so it's bound to be different-"

"It's not that!" He interrupted suddenly, "I know you're gonna get to do things me and Pony ain't, I'm just sick of you boastin' about it, rubbin' it in my face that I'm not as big as you, telling me I'm doing it all wrong when I'm just doing it my way" Soda murmured the last bit softly.

"Soda, look at me," I demanded, as I didn't really feel like having this conversation with the back of his messy haired head. "It sounds like I've been a pretty lousy brother lately, but believe me, when I'm correctin' you or tellin' you off, it's only cos I wanna make sure you're not gonna get hurt. But I promise Soda, that I never woulda carried on if I knew you were feeling like this. And now I do know, I'm gonna make a big effort to stop, alright? The last thing I wanna do is make you feel lousy. You or Ponyboy," 

Soda's gorgeous face erupted into a great big smile, and he looked like he'd had the weight of the world lifted from his shoulders. "You mean it, Dar?" He questioned, and I nodded solemnly, showing him I was deadly serious.

"We'll have to work on Mom and Dad 'bout the curfews and bedtimes, though" I joked as I hauled him up into a tight hug.

"Yeah, I aint too sure that's gonna happen fast" he mumbled into my chest whilst giggling. "'Least I'm not the youngest. Pony's gonna have to wait forever til he's caught up with us!" He teased as he pulled out of my protective embrace.

Pony chose this moment to step out onto the porch, and I couldn't help but notice how small his silhouette looked in the doorframe. "What you sayin' bout me, Soda?" he questioned genuinely, while I shared a subtle look with our middle brother.

"Just how you'll always be our baby brother, Pone" I answered. Ponyboy frowned and crossed his arms.

"I'm not a _baby _Darry!" He said indignantly as I gave Soda the nod.

At the signal, Soda rushed towards Pony, knocking him to the ground and tickling his mercilessly. I joined in too until Pony's screams bought the attention of Mom and Dad onto the porch as well.

"What on earth is going on out here?" My mom asked impatiently. We stopped tickling Pony and I shared a massive grin with Soda.

"Just letting Pony know how much his big brothers love him!" Soda exclaimed sweetly, which caused my dad to chuckle.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what you're doing, Pepsi-Cola," he grinned.

I got up and slung Ponyboy over my shoulder in a fireman's carry, sharing Soda's laughter at Pony's loud squeals.

"Yeah," I confirmed, "just hanging out with my brothers". I ruffled Soda's hair and we all headed inside the house to finish up the dishes. Together.

**A/N: Please review, I need all the help I can get and advice on whether I should continue or not Thanks!**


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